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jedbird's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
A shipmind traumatized by deep space ekes out a living blending "teas" to help humans cope in deep space. A detective in search of a corpse comes to her for a blend and a trip into that deep space.
It was a perfectly adequate introduction to this author's sci-fi world. The characters grate on each other and aren't the most likeable, but I'd be willing to try another in this series.
It was a perfectly adequate introduction to this author's sci-fi world. The characters grate on each other and aren't the most likeable, but I'd be willing to try another in this series.
dawseyadams's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
emilygaynier's review against another edition
5.0
Probably actually a 4.5 but only because I wanted more
Read Infinity and Beyond: Solar System - Read a book with a diverse cast and non-white main character
Read Infinity and Beyond: Solar System - Read a book with a diverse cast and non-white main character
khrb's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
elusivity's review against another edition
4.0
A pastiche of Sherlock Holmes and Watson in space-faring Asian-inspired empire. Vietnamese, in this case. In this world, space travel occurs via deep space, a place of unreality that ships travel through that skips through time and distances in normal space. Shipminds, human mind-equivalent of AI, can drive through it, but humans require carefully-created teas that manipulated their personality /emotions in order to help them endure the trip.
The tea master is a shipmind, The Shadow's Child, who suffered a trauma in deep space and could not return to it, even to make some real money for her own repairs. Long Chau, the logical but socially awkward consulting detective, pays for her services for a trip into deep space to find a body that shouldn't have been there.
This story was quite enjoyable, with tantalizing hints into the Xuya universe. I look forward to finding out more about it.
The tea master is a shipmind, The Shadow's Child, who suffered a trauma in deep space and could not return to it, even to make some real money for her own repairs. Long Chau, the logical but socially awkward consulting detective, pays for her services for a trip into deep space to find a body that shouldn't have been there.
This story was quite enjoyable, with tantalizing hints into the Xuya universe. I look forward to finding out more about it.
storytimed's review against another edition
2.5
I really, really wanted to like this
It's a riff on Holmes and Watson where Holmes is a disgraced tutor and Watson is an injured spaceship and they're both living in space Vietnam!
Unfortunately, despite the nice ideas, this never transcended its influences. The Tea Master and the Detective ended up reading like Holmes and Watson, but worse. Ancillary Justice, but not as good.
So many of the character traits feel like they're stretching to reference the source material. Why is a spaceship AI brewing tea that she can't drink? Because she needs some connection to the Holmes, who is an addict because Holmes is an addict, and de Bodard thought that psychoactive sci-fi teas are cool and she needed to shoehorn that in somewhere
I never really got an impression of the characters as people, or the plot as a mystery, or the setting as a lived-in place. Some of this is the limitations of the novella, which means de Bodard has to skip past character beats in order to get everything in under page count, but I also sort of got the sense that de Bodard was so enamored with ideas that she forgot to write a story.
kabaum's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
accidentalspaceexplorer's review against another edition
4.75
I really loved this. It's short but really sense in information and atmosphere, and I loved the loose Holmes retelling! Definitely want to read more in Xuya now